Beekeeping can be a fairly low-impact hobby for those who are not afraid of bees, or deathly allergic to their sting. Franklin Carrier, 88, of San Jose, said amateur apiarists can spend less than an hour a month maintaining a couple of hives. Bees “can take care of themselves,” he said. “They don’t need our help.”

While the hobby may be easy to pick up, the ordinances that regulate it are not. Apiary rules are found in zoning codes, animal control ordinances, both or neither. Some cities make their own rules, some adopt their county’s, others have none.

There is also the tricky question of whether to follow rules that the government does not enforce. California law requires beekeepers to register with their county, but the state does not provide financing for enforcement.

In Palo Alto, residents must get neighbors’ written consent before starting a colony. Foster City bans beekeeping. San Jose residents must apply for a permit.

In Los Gatos and unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County, apiaries must be 1,000 feet from any “residence, church, school, public building, corral or water area.” Such distance requirements prompt some to rebel. On a beesource.com forum, a local renegade was advised: “Put the bees where they can’t be seen. Don’t tell your neighbors.”

Richard Baxter, president of the Beekeepers Guild of San Mateo County, urges members to talk to neighbors before setting up hives, and to sweeten the deal by sharing honey.

“We work with the bees day in and day out and rarely get stung,” he said, but “that doesn’t mean anything to the person who is scared of bees.”

Mr. Baxter, who ran the Groupon classes at his home near Redwood City, said apiculture has become the “hobby du jour,” with guild membership quadrupling in recent years. The neighboring Santa Clara Valley guild grew more than 40 percent this year, said Wayne Craft, the guild president. Konrad Bouffard, co-owner of Round Rock Honey, said a fundraiser this spring is expected to bring the classes to the Tenderloin.

Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture magazine, said the nationwide increase in amateur beekeeping started a few years ago with widespread news media coverage of colony collapse disorder, in which the bees from a colony abruptly disappear. Beekeeping came to be seen as an easy, inexpensive and fruitful hobby.

“You don’t need a lot of land, you don’t need a lot of money, and you don’t need a college education in agriculture,” Mr. Flottum said. But he said that problems will probably pop up, especially in urban areas. When neighbors complain or beekeepers are careless, cities often respond with an outright ban. “It’s just easier to get rid of all beekeepers than to regulate it,” he said.

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